Breakthrough in Degradable Plastics: A Simple Trick to End 'Forever' Pollution

Inspired by natural polymers like DNA, scientists designed durable plastics that can be triggered to break down naturally on demand—using light or chemicals—offering a tunable solution to plastic waste without sacrificing performance.

Truly Inspired by Nature

Plastic waste has become an unprecedented global crisis, contaminating our oceans, polluting our air, and harming wildlife. While natural polymers like DNA and RNA degrade naturally over time, synthetic plastics persist for centuries, contributing to the problem. Now, Rutgers researchers have discovered a simple yet innovative trick to make plastics degradable without compromising their performance.

"Biology uses polymers everywhere, such as proteins, DNA, RNA and cellulose, yet nature never faces the kind of long-term accumulation problems we see with synthetic plastics," said Gu, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

Yuwei Gu was walking through Bear Mountain State Park in New York when an unexpected sight caught his attention. Plastic bottles were scattered along the trail, with more drifting across a nearby lake. Seeing plastic waste in such a natural setting stopped the Rutgers chemist in his tracks and set his mind racing.

Gu began thinking about polymers, long chainlike molecules that make up both natural materials and modern plastics. DNA and RNA are polymers, and so are proteins and cellulose. The difference is that nature's polymers eventually break down, while synthetic plastics often remain in the environment for decades or longer.

The Material Advance

Using a process inspired by nature, the team of scientists created plastics that break down under everyday conditions without harsh chemicals or high temperatures. The key lies in the arrangement of components within the material's chemical structure. By controlling their orientation and positioning, the plastic can break apart thousands of times faster than normal, with the resulting pieces non-toxic.

Programmable Plastics With Built-In Weak Points

This research does more than make plastics degradable. It makes their breakdown programmable.

The key discovery involved carefully arranging parts of the plastic's chemical structure so they sit in just the right positions to begin breaking apart when triggered. Gu compares the idea to folding a piece of paper so it tears easily along a crease. By effectively "pre-folding" the structure at a molecular level, the plastic can fall apart thousands of times faster than usual.

Despite this built-in vulnerability, the plastic's overall chemical composition remains unchanged. That means it stays strong and useful until the moment degradation is activated.

"Most importantly, we found that the exact spatial arrangement of these neighboring groups dramatically changes how fast the polymer degrades," Gu said. "By controlling their orientation and positioning, we can engineer the same plastic to break down over days, months or even years."

The research team demonstrated the concept by testing early lab results show that liquid produced by the breakdown is not toxic. The implications are far-reaching: this approach could make timed drug-release capsules and self-erasing coatings a reality, while addressing the global plastics crisis.

How It Works

The team found that by manipulating the spatial arrangement of components within the material's structure, they could control how quickly it breaks down. The process can be triggered using ultraviolet light or metal ions, allowing for a programmable degradation rate. This innovative approach has the potential to make plastics more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

• Natural polymers like DNA and RNA contain building blocks that are linked together in a specific arrangement, making them degrade naturally over time.
• Synthetic plastics, on the other hand, have strong chemical bonds that make them durable but also contribute to the plastic waste problem.
• The Rutgers team used computer simulations and experiments to test their hypothesis and demonstrate the concept.
• The resulting liquid produced by the breakdown is non-toxic, making it a promising solution for a variety of applications.

Hope for the future

The discovery of this degradable plastic material offers hope for addressing the global plastics crisis while maintaining performance. By copying nature's strategy, scientists have created a practical and innovative solution that could change the way we produce and use plastics. As research continues to advance, this approach has the potential to make timed drug-release capsules and self-erasing coatings a reality, while contributing to a more sustainable future.

Materials provided by Rutgers University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.